Lost In Translation

This is a bit crude, but I didn't know how to post it any other way and I wanted to document this conversation that I had with Abigail last night. I had decided to put a clay face mask on my face. While I was in the restroom applying the mask, Abigail asked "Mom why are you putting that stuff on your face?" I replied "Because I want to get rid of my pimples." She said, "Mom, why don't you like your pimples?" I said, "Cause they aren't cute. Do you think my pimples are cute?" She replied, "Well they are bigger than mine."After that statement, I had to explain to her what a pimple was and that it was NOT the same thing as a nipple. Wow, am I glad we cleared that one up!

Seeing Into The Future

So, if you read far enough down on this blog you will see that my week kind of started out interestingly, with Emily's visit to the doctor to extract a game piece out of her nose. Well, it gets better. I have to note that the night before Emily's nose incident, I was telling Darin that every family has a kid that gets something stuck in their ear or nose and every family has a kid that cuts their hair. I also said "I bet you anything that Emily is the one that gets something stuck in her nose, and Elizabeth is the one that cuts her hair." That comment was a strange foreshadowing of how my week went cause on Wednesday, I was washing dishes and went to use the restroom and in the bathroom sink, was a handful of blond hair. All I could think was, "who is bald?" I knew it wasn't Abigail because she was in school so I went on a search for the twins, hoping that it wasn't Emily because it has taken her three long years to grow the hair that she does have on her head. I found Elizabeth crouched down in the corner with a pair of scissors in her hand. Luckily, she cut the underneath layer of her hair, so you can't tell as long as her hair is not pulled up. No guessing for this week, I am afraid to jinx myself.

Finally Getting Caught Up

I am finally getting caught up on my blog. The pictures are kind of in reverse order, with the most recent ones being first. I hope not to get this behind again because it is a pain to play catch up.

Misty

Fun At our New House

The snow in Idaho is not usually very good for Snowman making, but one weekend we had a nice wet snow, so the girls jumped at the chance to make a snowman. The twins and Abigail made a small one and then the twins went inside cause they were too cold and Abigail toughed it out and made a big one all on her own.

The girls each have their own bed for the first time ever. Each night I put the girls to sleep in their VERY OWN bed and about half of the time I find them like this in the morning.

My 3 Girls on The Twins 3rd Birthday

Emily

This post is mostly for my records, so that I know what my twins looked like on their 3rd birthday.

Elizabeth

The Twins Birthday Breakfast

One of our family traditions is to have a birthday breakfast. The twins chose scrambled eggs (Emily's favorite) and pancakes (Elizabeth's favorite). I am so glad that they are so easlily pleased. After their birthday breakfast Abigail blew up a bunch of balloons and the girls tried to sit on the balloons and pop them.

What sweet little faces!

Can you see the mischeif in Elizabeth's eyes?

I am so glad they are so happy.

The Twins Are 3

Just after we got to Idaho, the twins had their third birthday. All they really wanted was a Dora and Boots birthday cake for their birthday, so I was happy that Walmart could oblige.

I can't believe my babies are three. These have been the three toughest years of my life, but well worth it.

Elizabeth is practicing holding three fingers up now.

New Haircuts

The twins got hair cuts before we left for Idaho. Elizabeth got about three inches cut off her hair and Emily just got a trim to even out the naturally grown mullett. I love her cute little bob, it fits her personality perfectly.

Christmas Recital

This picture was taken before Abigail's first recital. She performed "Silent Night" and "Come Little Children" on the piano and sang a duet with her cousin Kaylee to the LDS Children's song "A Shepherd's Carol" She also sang a solo "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." She was a bit nervous for her solo, but got all the way through it without forgetting any words. GO ABIGAIL.

My friend Olivia, and mom to three of my students made this cake for the recital. She does amazing work. I love carolers at christmas time and I couldn't believe that the middle snowman caroler had music in it's book. The music was edible icing.

The recital was a success and I was proud of everyone's hard work.

Christmas Day

Santa came and brought lots of clothes for the girls. They got a few toys too, but not big ones cause he knew that the Ralphs family would be moving across the country at the beginning of the new year.

Abigail's face says it all. A week before Christmas, Abigail was sick. I took her with me to Walmart to get some grocery shopping done, and she took with her her favorite stuffed animal, an elephant named Dube. To make a long story short, about 10 minutes into our shopping trip, we noticed that Dube was missing. We searched all over the store and contacted customer service, and still no Dube. I even called the store for the next three days to see if the missing beloved elephant had turned up and still no Dube. Abigail was heartbroken. Her favorite stuffed animal was lost and if you even mentioned him, she would burst into tears and tell you that her "life was over." Santa had to place a special order with the elves and he managed to bring a new Dube on Christmas morning. Abigail knows that this one is not the same, so she tells me that this Dube is a girl and the last Dube was a boy.

It is our family tradition to get eachother meaningful Christmas ornaments each year. This year I got a BUNCO ornament in honor of my fun BUNCO playing days when I lived in Rockland and Darin got a Smiley Face ornament in honor of the year he worked for Walmart.

I am convinced that my dad is related to Santa Claus in some way. He looks more and more like him each year.

Silly Santa's

Elizabeth

Emily

Abigail

Operation

Today was unseasonably warm (in the 40's), so I decided to take a break from unpacking and seize the moment and take the kids to the park. On the way out the door, Emily says, "Mom, my nose hurts." I told her that she probably just had allergies or a cold and to go find a Kleenex and blow her nose. I mean, how many complaints do I get each day that are completely uneventful, right? Well this was not an uneventful complaint. Right as we were leaving, Darin came home from work for lunch and Emily told her daddy that her nose hurt. He, being more compassionate than I, took his flashlight on his key chain and shined it up her nose. There was something neon green far up in her nose, and it was not going to come out with out help. So, we scheduled a Dr.'s appointment, which, by the way, I love the doctors offices here. They could see us in one hour. Heather came over to take Elizabeth and Abigail to the park and off to the doctor's office, Emily and I went. After the doctor examined Emily's nose he got an instrument to pull the foreign object out and we could not believe our eyes. It was a game piece from the children's game, operation, a neon green gas bubble to be exact. Everyone in the office had a chuckle. Well, everyone but Emily and we were on our way home with a neon green slimy souvenir. Silly girl.

A New Year and A Lot of Changes

I haven't blogged for almost two months now cause we have had so much going on that I just can't keep up. No pictures for now because my camera went out around Thanksgiving and Darin got me a new camera for Christmas, but I haven't taken the time to figure it out. I will post some pictures when I get a chance to breathe. Part of my reason for blogging this morning is to take a moment to sit down and breathe. A little update on what has been going on since the last post.

Thanksgiving - Heather & Shane came to Texas for Thanksgiving. We had a great time with them for a week and had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Helen's & Uncle Richard's house.

My students had a recital on December 11th, which I thought was very successful. All of the students that performed were beginners and I was very proud. Abigail sang and played the piano. Her nerves got the best of her during one of her songs, but I was really proud that she even had the nerves to do it. She was one of the youngest performers.

December 17th was Darin's last day of work at the Walmart Distribution Center. He is definately glad that that chapter in his life is closed. We are glad that he was willing to work that job even though he hated every moment of it. I am glad that he realizes the importance of providing for his family even when you have to do something that you don't love.

On Christmas Eve we went to Darin's sister's house for a gathering of his Texas siblings and their families. We had a nice dinner and gift exchange with Tracie, Sheralyn, & Eric.

We spent Christmas with the Stockers and it was a typical busy Christmas day with Grand Nan and PaPa. All of the extended family came over for our Christmas day party. It was a smaller crowd than usual, but things like that happen when cousins get married and start having families of their own.

NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS!
We have moved again! Darin got a job offer in Pocatello, which he was happy to take considering he was pretty miserable at his Walmart job in Texas. So, we quickly packed up our stuff and headed back to Idaho to the freezing cold. We will miss our Texas family, but we feel like this is a good opportunity for us where Darin and I can accomplish the goals that we have for our family. Who would have thought? I have decided that I have completly stopped guessing where my life will take me, cause I am sure to be wrong. I was really sad to leave my 26 students, but I pointed them in the direction of some excellent music teachers and I hope they continue their music learning with their new teachers.

Since we have been in Idaho.

We found a house to live in, and we all love it. We are not moving back to the farm and that is okay with us. In my opinion, farms are nice places to visit when you want to get away from civilization. We have been to our new ward, we don't love it yet, but I am sure it will grow on us. In my past experience, it takes about a year to get used to a new ward, and callings seem to help with the process and give you a since of belonging. Darin has started his new job and likes it alot. He works in Pocatello for two days a week and travels to Preston and Rockland for the rest of the week. On the days he travels, he gets to use the company car and when he goes to Preston he even gets to have the company credit card to take people to lunch and discuss business. Abigail started back to school, she has a "boy teacher" and really likes him. She was very apprehensive at first and didn't know if it would be okay to have a "boy teacher," but she even says that she likes him better than her teacher in Texas, so that is good. We have found that she is ahead in reading, on track for spelling, and behind in math. We have been doing lots of math equations using cheerios lately. All of the girls started dance and they have a blast. They take dance at on of the best dance studios in the region and their teachers are great and LDS too. All of the girls seem really happy and are enjoying the space of our new home. We haven't played outside much cause it has been too cold for mommy, but the backyard looks pretty fun. Abigail has infomed me that "if we move one more time she is going to scream." My sentiments exactly. We are hoping to make this a long term thing for us, but only time will tell. I hate packing, moving, and unpacking, so I hope we stay here for a really long time, but as I said before, I am done guessing where my life will take me. Once we get settled, I hope to get a few music students and organize a curriculum to start an in-home pre-school in the fall. We have high hopes that 2011 will be a great year for us, I think we deserve a good year, cause the last two have been really tough.